Air purifier



Aug. 27, 1935. R. JOHN 2,012,761

AIR PURIFIER Filed June 25, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 3 MW fiofierl fohz R. JOHN AIR PURIFIER Aug. 27, 1935.

Filed June 25, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aug; 27, 1935 tumors-o STATES AIR PURIFIER Robert John, New York, N. Y. Application June 25, 1934, Serial No. 732331 12 Claims.

tinuous process of deodorization, sterilization and v ionization;

Other objects and advantages of theinvention eawill appear in the following description of the preferredembodiment of my invention shown in the attached-drawings of which:

Figure lis aperspective view in elevation of the'device; 7

line 2-2-of Figure 1- looking upwardly;

,Figurel3 is a-vertical cross-section on the line 3 -3 oi Figure 1;.

Figure 4 isa horizontal cross-section on the line dl 'ofFigurel looking downwardly; and

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 2 showing a modification ofithe air purifier including an air activator.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, l0-

indicatesa base,'. Hf indicates the horizontally disposedifan, [2 indicates a heating. element for purifying) the air, and' [3. indicates. the Windstreanfi-controlelement; g

snowman: Figure 3,tne base I0is of hollow formatibntand includes a bottom member- It to which is'se'curedi a plurality oflegs l5," preferably madeofrubber, felt; or other sound-absorbing' 'n1agterial; so"as to" minimize transmission of soundiandavoidsoarring'of furniture. The sides l6 'of the base Ifliextend upwardly and." inwardly tofo'rm ai motor chamber in which is positioned" a fan motor I1. ventional type of electric fan motor capable of running-* witl i its shaft 18-- vertically" disposed. Preferablyi theshaft l8Fis provided with-a'ball' thrust-bearing l9 mounted uponthe central portionof the bottom' member l4.

The fanll' is secured to the upper portion of tlie shaft iii-forrotationtherewithand, as shown,-

ed to the walls I 6 and to the-periphery of the fan casing-': The" fancasin'g preferably pro- 555? vided with an upstandingperforated wall 22- Figure: 2 is a-rhorizontal cross-section on the This motor may be anyf conits blades are horizontally disposed; Fan casing surrounding the fan blades and'is preferably provided with a wire mesh bottom portion 23" of annul'ar formation;

The windstream control member i3 consists-I of a completely enclosed thin metallicshell someie what acorn shaped and is supported directly above and concentric with the fan by? meansof extensions 24' of the supports 2h The contour 0t this shell presents a' surface 25".curving-outwardly' and upwardly over the tips'of' the fan blades and a' surface ZGcurving inwardly above the point 21 of its greatest diameter; Surface 26. presents a compound curve in cross-sectiom as shown in Figure 3', and preferably terminates in-v The airpurifier element If! is secured tothe bottom of the winclstream control element It di'=- In the modification: shown in Figures 1 to 4; inclusive, the purifier: element comprises a refractory-block 2'9=which"is:'

a point. 28- at its upper end.

rectly above: the fan H.

grooved for the reception of aheating element.

Both -the heating element 30 and the 'motor' H are suppliedfromthe: same source ofvpower by a lead 31* and a switch 32 'is mounted upon the insideof the wall Id of the base member' l'fl for connecting or disconnecting the motor and heat ing element. Theswitch 32 may have an operating member 33 projecting-outwardly through an aperture in the'wall lfiv Byway of explanation ofthe operation'i of nay-' windstream con't'rol member 13; I call attention to United States Patent No; 1,064,524, issued June" 10; 1913 to Nelson and Ruggaber, as illustrative of'a-horizontal fan of the prior art. It' will be heldfi'as faras: four: feet; horizontally; awayfrom" a fan-'ofthetype of Nelson and Ruggaber; the air" being discharged from said fan radiallywill bend thefi'ame'a'way from-'the fanyor even extinguish. it; if a-lighted candle beheld two' feet directlyab'ovethe center: of said Nelson andRuggaberfanp there is no apparentdeflec'tion of the flame, norisany draft' observed; Under comparative-con ditions as to-fan-bla'de contour,'. size and spe'e'dg it'li'as been observed that in my improved structure the candle flame shows no" radial discharge of air when held as close as threeinches away from the tipsof the fan blade. Onthe other hand, the air currents at all points from top to bottom of the mechanism are observed to be inward. Also, if the lighted candle be placed directly above the center of my windstream control member i3, the flame will be promptly extinguished, the greatest intensity of air movement apparently being directly over the point 28 of the member l3. This characteristic has been further verified by anemometer tests. The reason for this directionalcontrol of the air currentswill be'obvious when it is considered that the air an upwardly rounded surface which causes it to wipe, upwardly, the contour of windstream con-'- trol member I3 causing a reduction in pressure It has been observed that by maintaining the; resistance element 30 at cherry red while the fan is in operation, the temperature of the re-.

sistance wire itself is at approximately 1000 F.,

and the temperature of the airdirectly below the heating element, that is, between the heating:-

element llandythe bladesof the fan H,,is at a'.

temperature of from 300-E, to350 F., whilethetemperature at theapexof the air stream, several inches above the point28 is approximately that.=

perature of the-room.

Asindicated above, the temperature of the air a few inches above the point 28 has been consistentlyobserved to be approximately that of .the

temperatureof the air entering the device, that is, the temperature of the air of the room. 'In;

fact, an accurate thermometer placed in the air 'at the point, described will consistently read:ap-; lower than the same thermometer placed in the air entering the device;

proximately, 1"v F.,

although calculations taking into account the energy consumed by the heating element, the rate ofzair flow and the specific heat of air, indicate. that the temperature of theair leaving thedevice 1 should beseveral degrees higher than the tentperature of the enteringair. It is to be observed; however,,that the.vair in passing through the fan mechanism has been subjected to atemperature:

sufficient to be destructive to germ life and to entered the fan mechanism. Further, it has been subjected to ionization resulting from violent temperature changes, contact with red hot metal,

and possibly to the vaporization and reabsorption of its moisture content, all of which steps are known to affect the molecular structure of the oxygen of the air to produce a more rapid rate of oxidation of substances in contact therewith than that "of unheated, uneionized, atmospheric oxygen. Also, the heat of the red hot resistance" wires is 'suflicient to eifect combustion of carbon monoxide and other incompletely oxidized carbonaceous compounds.

As a modification of my air-purifieigl show in ,trol member.

Figure 5 a similar structure in which the heating element described is omitted and in its place there may be substituted an air activator or ozon- 1 her l3. An outer electrode 38 in contact, with the metallic rim and an inner electrode 39 may be secured to opposite sides of the dielectric plate. The inner electrode 39 is connected by. a lead 40 to one high voltage terminal of a step-up transq melj (not shown) positioned within the windinwardlv of said air stream, between it and the surfaee i 6, whereby the upwardly traveling stream stream control member and having its other high voltageterminal grounded to the windstream con- Such an air activator produces a silent electrical discharge the operation of which is to destroyodors, germ lite, and to ionizethe air stream to a degree comparable with that-produced by the naked cherry'red heating wires above described. v

My invention, '1 larly useful in homes, ofilces, hospitals and public halls, and wherever portable rotary fans are-- now'employed. Its advantages over the portable rotary' fans of the current art are (1) that'it creates no drafts such as are likely to induce colds, blow papers about, or stir up dust, but'min'us these defects it movessufiicie'ntly large volumes of air' to have a cooling effect on the bodies of persons in the room; and (2) it purifies the-air inthe process of moving it. 1

In the embodiment of-my invention chosen the purpose of exemplificatioml have described an airpurifier by means of-whicha'oontinuous stream of air is subjected to a temperature of 300 or more, and redelivered at room temperature or'less; such a balance'between' heat inputand air flow is desirable where' the apparatus is to be used merely for air purification in rooms heated beneve, will be reundmicu- .byindependent meansjobvio'usly, by'maintaining the nakedwires of my deviceat white heat,

as by increasing the electrical input, or decreasing the rate of air now, it is possible to employ the v apparatus for warming the air of the room," as" well aspurifying it. Such modifications necessary to produce any desired result are well known to those-skilled inthe art; also, by varyingfthe pitch andcontour of'my fan blades and by alter-1i ing the curved surfaces of my, acorn-shaped windstream control. according, to the principles the directional control of the ,airl stream may ifi'cations of my invention. may be made without described and claimed herein; h

' I claim;

of published engineering data available to ,alLi

varied to produce wider or narrower upward,- air stream columns. 1 These and many 'othe'r. mod- 1. An airlmoving mechanism comprising a tary fan and an air deflector spaced-apart;tl 1ere-- 'from, said air deflector having ansurface presented toward said ian and curved outwardly from; said-fan near its widest diameter and inwardly toward the; axis plea-id fan from its widest diameter, tothepointin its 2. An air moving mechanism comprising}.

tary fan and an air deflector spaced apart contour farthest away from saidfan. whereby from, said air deflector having an external surface presented toward said fan and being curved outwardly from said fan near its widest diameter and inwardly toward the'axis of said fan from its widest diameter to the point in its contour farthest away from said fan whereby the air from said fan flows around the external surface of said deflector, said curvature beyond said widest diameter comprising compound curves.

3. An air moving mechanism comprising a rotary fan and an air deflector spaced apart therefrom, said air deflector having an external surface presented toward said fan and being curved outwardly from said fan near its widest diameter and inwardly toward the axis of said fan from its widest diameter to the point of its contour farthest away from said fan whereby the air from said fan flows around the external surface of said deflector, said inward curves meeting at a point farthest from said fan.

4. An air moving mechanism comprising a rotary fan and an air deflector, said deflector having an external surface presented toward said deflector spaced apart therefrom whereby the air from said fan flows around the external surface of said deflector, some portions of said deflector adjacent said fan being sloped away therefrom and other portions of said deflector more distant from said fan being sloped in an opposite direction.

5. In combination, an air purifying mechanism comprising a rotary fan, an electrical resistance heating element spaced apart therefrom and exposed directly to the air coming from said fan,

and means for maintaining said electrical resistance heater at red heat when said fan is in operation.

6. In combination, a rotary fan positioned to 40 produce an upwardly directed current of air, and

rent to minimize horizontal currents of air normally produced by said fan.

8. In combination, a rotary fan positioned to produce a current of air having a generally upward movement, a single windstream control member positioned axially within said current to minimize horizontal currents of air normally produced by said fan, and an air purifier positioned to contact said air between said fan and said control member.

9. In combination, a rotary fan positioned to produce a current of air having a generally upward movement, a single windstream control member positioned axially within said current to minimize horizontal currents of air normally produced by said fan, and an air purifier comprising a heating element positioned to contact said air between said fan and said control member.

10. In combination, a rotary fan positioned to produce a current of air having a generally upward movement, a single windstream control member positioned axially within said current to minimize horizontal currents of air normally produced by said fan, and an air purifier comprising an electric discharge device positioned to contact said air between said fan and said control member.

11. An air moving mechanism comprising a rotary fan having horizontally disposed blades and an air deflector spaced apart therefrom, said air deflector having an external surface presented toward said fan and being curved outwardly from said fan near its widest diameter and inwardly toward the axis of said fan from its widest diameter to the point in its contour farthest away from said fan.

12. An air moving mechanism comprising a rotary fan having horizontally disposed blades and an air deflector spaced apart therefrom, said air deflector having an external surface presented toward said fan and being curved. outwardly from said fan near its widest diameter and inwardly toward the axis of said fan from its widest diameter to the point in its contour farthest away from said fan, said inward curves meeting at a point farthest from said fan.

ROBERT JOHN. 

